I'm glad that you are letting go a bit. Following your own plan that is best for your body and mind is very Primal. But, please don't disappear.

I wish I were in a position to say that eating anything is okay for me and that I could choose to eat whatever once in a while. I think Paleolithic eating is the only thing standing between me and physical ruin, but I am twice your age and metabolically damaged. Even though I binge, at least I am healthy part of the time instead of none of the time.

I am actually leaning more towards Paleo just to avoid the Grey areas of Primal. Paleo / Primal do end up being lower carb for me because when I am not following the plan, I am eating ridiculous amounts of carb (@ 500g). On Plan I max at about 150 if I try really hard.

We all get into these moments where we've had enough of the noise and confusion of MDA. When it happens to me, I remember all the wonderful friends that I would miss.

05-21-2013, 08:57 AM

Finnegans Wake

[QUOTE=namelesswonder;1197293]I guess I'm breaking up with Primal.

In the past couple of months, I have found that high doses of probiotics (Threelac) and increasing my consumption of wheat-free starches (sticking to tubers, mostly, but also white rice) has helped with the constipation. The starches really go against most tenants of primal, which advocates for an overall reduction. If it works and I am healthier than I have been for a while, how can it be bad? At least, for me? I am also eating more fruit and it makes me feel really good. I don't know if I'm a "fat burner" and that's okay. [/QUOTE]

I've sort of transitioned to maybe more of a Perfect Health Diet approach to white potatoes and white rice. I used to love pasta, and for those times when I want some I sub rice noodles. I have a wheat-free mac and cheese that rocks the house. It sounds like you are responding well to reintroducing more carbs. I guess I've been eating more intuitively - if I feel like fruit, I eat fruit, if I want some taters, eat taters.

[QUOTE=namelesswonder;1197293]I'm very frustrated by a number of aspects of the "primal community" presence online. Personally, I feel that it's very important to frame facts with disclaimers. These are my opinions, this is my n=1. To state something as some kind of "primal fact" really pisses me off. I have learned over the past nearly 2 years here than there is no one right answer, for any single person or community. In the end, Mark Sisson is not advocating a "Diet" necessarily, but a lot of his followers treat it like one, while still calling it a lifestyle change. I love the primal concept, of living closer to nature and listening to one's body for cues (to me, it is NOT "living like a caveman"), but it's completely lost on a huge number of people here. I also get really pissed off at how exclusive people act about being primal. There have been posters here who are NOT primal and no matter how polite they are (some have not been), they are completely shot down. Their opinions are their own, there is no way they can be INVALID.

The truth is: most people here DO believe primal is low carb, even if they say it is not. "Low" carb is relative, sure, but [I]it is my opinion[/I] that a lot of people go too low carb [I]for their needs[/I] and end up suffering for it. In my mind, "toughing it out" through carb flu is not always the answer. If a user comes in and complains of problems beyond minor fatigue and headaches, why on earth would you tell them to suck it up when they could just eat a little fruit to ease the transition away from refined foods? That's negligent and I am glad these people aren't medical professionals.

[/QUOTE]Agree 100%. The level of sanctimony and acrimony can be very off-putting. Some fanatic preachers here who feel the need to "prove" that their version of things is the singular correct narrow path. I see it as a journey of discovery. Hard to see how there could be one singular prescription when we are different genders, ages, genetic and epi-genetic sets of codes, and have endless variation in gut microbiome. But yeah, despite that, if you eat fruit you're going to hell. Or if you enter into ketosis. Or whatever.

Maybe we're moving into a Zen sort of Primal, instead of a confrontational sort of Primal.

05-21-2013, 09:08 AM

namelesswonder

[QUOTE=naiadknight;1197332] The way I figure, eating what my body wants and my native calorie schedule (one day of "eat all the things," one day of "something small," one day of eating like a "Normal" person, repeat) takes care of everything.[/QUOTE]

I feel so much less stressed being able to eat wheat sometimes. I mean, it doesn't sit well with me, but sometimes I just need to say f-it and eat it anyway. Seems like my body likes to have things pretty level every day, but I definitely would not have figured that out without Primal.

[QUOTE=Pebbles67;1197353]I am actually leaning more towards Paleo just to avoid the Grey areas of Primal. Paleo / Primal do end up being lower carb for me because when I am not following the plan, I am eating ridiculous amounts of carb (@ 500g). On Plan I max at about 150 if I try really hard.

We all get into these moments where we've had enough of the noise and confusion of MDA. When it happens to me, I remember all the wonderful friends that I would miss.[/QUOTE]

The "structure" of Paleo was definitely beneficial for my mindset at one time, especially when dairy suddenly became an issue (may not be as much now? more on that later). I definitely don't want to vanish at this point. I'm probably going to post daily because I like the contact with the people around here and there's still plenty to learn.

[QUOTE=Finnegans Wake;1197403]I've sort of transitioned to maybe more of a Perfect Health Diet approach to white potatoes and white rice. I used to love pasta, and for those times when I want some I sub rice noodles. I have a wheat-free mac and cheese that rocks the house. It sounds like you are responding well to reintroducing more carbs. I guess I've been eating more intuitively - if I feel like fruit, I eat fruit, if I want some taters, eat taters.

Maybe we're moving into a Zen sort of Primal, instead of a confrontational sort of Primal.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the direction to PHD, btw. I've read about it, and you actually posted about it to me over a year ago, but I ignored it then. Starches may not be the answer, but it's making me happy right now. Who knows, I met end up a fruit fanatic, but whatever works, right? I definitely feel like I've been more "Zen" lately about a lot of things. I know I still get riled up at times, but I'm finding it easier to sigh and brush things off. The concept of picking my battles is actually attainable for once.

Maybe it's the seasons changing, but I am finding myself MUCH more interested than fruit than I was a few months ago. I know I was eating fruit pretty regularly last year, but I think fruit plus otherwise low carb is part of what messed me up. I think I needed the starches in there so it wasn't so much straight fructose to the system. I don't know if that makes any sense scientifically.

05-21-2013, 09:43 AM

namelesswonder

General life update:

My day off yesterday was excellent. I slept in, cleaned the hell out of the kitchen (including crawling around with a sponge, bowl of water, and cleaning spray to get the grime off the un-walked areas), wore a pretty dress (made me feel good), and had dinner out with Hulky and C. We chatted about the possibility of going in together to flip a house and split the profits (two ways, me and Hulky being one entity). We talked logistics, research, and prep. Dinner was at [URL="http://www.redbones.com/"]Red Bones[/URL]. BBQ enthusiasts may find it lacking, but it's one of the better BBQ joints up this way. I've been going there with family since I was pretty young. The starting point for house flipping is C and Hulky picking up odd jobs to reacquaint themselves with some of the work they'd be doing (they did reno-type work as teens for C's dad, who has flipped at least 5 houses, mostly by himself). They have connections through C's dad so they should be able to find some work. The extra income will be great, even if we never do the flipping! I am research-girl, which I don't particularly like, but I have more time and internet access to dedicate to that task. If we do flip a house, the profit would hopefully fund relocating for me and Hulky :). It's nice to dream about, since we are both very much day-dreaming about a permanent home, but not around here.

I don't think I shared this before, but Hulky's sister is expecting! This will be babe #4. She's due in October. Hulky's mom told us to have kids soon, before she gets sick of them. Then she said, "No, I'm joking, have them when you're ready." I think I'd want to wait at least 2 more years, but we'll see where life takes us. When pried, Hulky resorts to, "We're never having kids!" He's very private about that kind of thing, which is understandable, but it's never bothered me when people ask.

05-21-2013, 10:08 AM

namelesswonder

Right, the whole point about making note of my cleaning the kitchen was that I squatted a lot and my shins are soooorrrreee.

Argh, the dress I want for my engagement party is back at Target.com, but I'm broke! Hopefully I can order it mid-June. This style better work for me or I'm going to be quite sad :p. I also need to have enough money set aside for our programs at that time. I don't want to put those off too long in case we need to make changes.

I need to remember to call the jury duty line tonight. It's within 10 business days of the federal jury duty I got called for (to be "on call" for a few weeks in June) so I should be able to confirm that I don't have to show up. I sent in my paperwork to show that I'm exempt as soon as I got the notice.

05-21-2013, 10:09 AM

geostump

This is an n=1 experiment. What works well for me may not work well for you and on and on and on. I personally enjoy the lower carb aspects of this lifestyle and have found that I do need more protein than I need a ton of fat, but still keep carbs on the low end. I also tend to follow NK's viewpoint of, a momentary cheat isn't going to kill me and I do indulge a bit. I'm working on not bingeing and moving more. You are one of the cool people and would be sorely missed if you didn't pop in.

05-21-2013, 11:26 AM

Pebbles67

I pictured you cleaning in a dress.lol

Just looked up the Perfect Health Diet. It looks like what I am concluding is best for me. (safe starches, limited treats) Yet another thing that I wrote off because of the rabid proponenents and detractors on the main MDA forum. See, even we can get all caught up in the "Primal is God" BS.

05-21-2013, 11:35 AM

namelesswonder

This is the dress I wore yesterday. The photo is from almost 2 years ago, right before I started Primal, at a friend's wedding. I don't know if he's going to make it up to the engagement party with his wife. They live in VA right now. His folks live in town and they will be coming. I really hope he can make it.

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/282414_10100197072806389_8225668_n.jpg[/img]
The photo is a little dark, but the dress is kind of a dark olive green. It ends above the knees and has a nice light flow to it. I think I'll turn it into a skirt (hem it just above/behind the sparkly belt area) because I don't think the top is very flattering. It's funny to me now, because I weighed the same then as I do now, but then I looked a little pudgy (to me) and now I look athletic (to me, well, Hulky agrees).

05-21-2013, 11:43 AM

marcadav

[QUOTE=Pebbles67;1197580]I pictured you cleaning in a dress.lol [/QUOTE]

Me too.

05-21-2013, 11:55 AM

namelesswonder

Oh, well if I wasn't clear, I WAS cleaning in that dress :D

Man, I'm posting a lot today. Oh well!

I have been monitoring my legs' amazing progression since I started cycling. My calves look great, my thighs have grown. They rub now. It's a new sensation for me. I like it. I want to gain more muscle on my upper body. I'm back to 135 lbs now and I feel awesome. I've had so much energy lately.

Y'all will get photos of my killer legs from the engagement party, I'm sure, since I'll be in a bathing suit then :D